The Average Child

The plight of the average child from Dale Parnell’s book, "Why Do I Have to Learn This? (Teaching the Way People Learn Best) ". Mr. Parnell is also the author of the Neglected Majority.

"It is especially important to note that the students placed in the
medium (average) ability are individuals of the Neglected Majority –
students who have been more or less forgotten in school systems that
focus all their attention and energy on those on the "smart" and
"challenged" ends of the traditional bell curve. This is poignantly
captured in a poem written by a 9th grade Native American who obviously
felt the problem firsthand."

The Average Child
I don’t cause teachers trouble,
my grades have been ok.
I listen in my classes
and I’m in school everyday.

My teachers think I’m average,
my parents think so too.
I wish I didn’t know that
‘cause there’s lots I’d like to do.

I’d like to build a rocket, I have
a book that tells you how,
or start a stamp collection—well
there’s no use in trying now.

‘Cause since I found I’m average
I’m just smart enough you see,
to know there is nothing special
that I should expect of me.

I’m part of the majority,
that hump part of the bell,
who spends their life unnoticed
in an average kind of hell.